Almost comically, Titanite's head bobbed up and down as it followed Orthoclase-Alpha's leaping.

The creature was... not agile. It seemed to be shrugging off the attacks of the bushes, and Titanite wondered, vaguely, if it might use its sibling's (and there was a thought, they were siblings) weight against it.

But-...

...It was bouncing.

The tangling vines had not manifested, either because Titanite's own magic had failed or Alpha had thoroughly trampled them prior. Titanite came to a decision; it would do its best to drag Alpha down with vines. But it would need a moment to make that magic, and now the creature was very clearly sailing through the air toward Titanite.

All right, so he still had bushes that would chase Orthoclase-Alpha, and fight it, but for the time being it needed space.

Titanite dropped to all fours, rushing with surprising speed in an attempt to evade the bouncing crustacean-alien-hybrid.

Round: 4/5
Attempt: Dodge the... bouncing Kaiju
Defense: Some Wood
Injuries: None

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Well, on one hand: it'd sailed over the bushes, sent itself on a clear path towards Titanite.

On the other: the wickerbeast'd rushed out of the way and Alpha continued with its unfortunate forward momentum.

It grunted, fumbling to twist mid-air and stick its legs out, bracing for impact and already gritting its teeth against the impact required to... stop bouncing. Claws dug painfully into the moss, catching on nooks in the rock and barely holding it down as magic urged it to go back up again.

Alpha lifted its head, narrowing its eyes when it did the mental math about what distance, really, it'd covered - and the lack of it. They were both back at square one.

Flipping through it's repertoire, the beast considered - does he have blood? An odd thing to think of, but it wasn't for strange, serial-killer reasons. It pushed out with the same magic it'd tried to use on Dread, in the opposite direction this time: going for slowing that heart way down.

Can't be so nimble and focused out of breath and oxygen.

Not that it made that anatomical connection - no, it'd just taken notes of... whatever this magical feeling'd done to that dragon. Hindered him some, that is.

Round: 4/5
Attempt: ... hey do you have a heart in there bud?
Defense: Full Minecraft Diamond Armor
Injuries: Thorns :'(

@Titanite

Titan had had time, as Alpha had... built up its bouncing, to begin preparing its magic. It'd had to put that on hold long enough to skitter out of the way, but as the massive beast crashed past, it turned back again.

It stood upright, facing Orthoclase-Alpha, concentrating on weaving this magic to completion--and dragging the kaiju down once and for all.

But the Alpha wasn't standing idle; it had turned, too, and now they faced one another with a battle of magic, more than anything. The answer was no; Titanite did not have blood. It had no heart; it had a gemstone where that might have been, but instead sap flowed through its branching limbs. Slowing that was a similar effect, so that it felt its movements slowing to a halt--and if it failed in its magic, now, things might turn... ugly.

It poured its power into it, struggling to bind Alpha securely, this time: to wrap at least some of its too-many-legs and nail it--... metaphorically speaking!... to the ground.

Round: 5/5
Attempt: Hogtie the Kaiju
Defense: Some Wood
Injuries: None

@Orthoclase-Alpha

It was so caught up in the quiet euphoria of having seemingly frozen Titanite into place that it'd forgotten that, perhaps, he could still reach for magic - and that he might have already been working on that.

Plants surged up from the forest floor and bound it by the hind legs and one middle leg; all in time for it to take a charging step ahead. Alpha jerked forwards, then snapped its head down to analyze the situation while it toppled chin-first with a grunt.

Maybe it could've stood up again - or at least halfway, propped up on its forearms and one middle set, but it wasn't like it could drag itself with more than half its legs tied down. No, it was definitely incapacitated for the moment, and its best bet was to get those plants off. Firing lightning at itself was a fool's errand, and it couldn't think of many other options.

Alpha decided that curling up as best it could in the heat of the moment was the most feasible option. magicka buzzed idly as it stretched its claws out, wrenching the hooked tips underneath the edges of the sheets of plants - and if it came to fruition, it'd spawn almost machete-like claws well-suited for ripping through them... maybe even a wicked pair of short, forward-facing horns.

Round: 5/5
Attempt: Rip through those vines
Defense: Full Minecraft Diamond Armor
Injuries: Thorns :'(, currently hogtied

@Titanite

[Origin Cave]

Character: Titanite Age: +5 (5 Cycles) Magic Level: +3 (Pupil) ROUND 1 Attempt: +18 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +17 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +4 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +15 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +6 Penalties: -0 Total: 68

Character: Orthoclase-Alpha Age: +4 (4 Cycles) Magic Level: +5 (Champion) ROUND 1 Attempt: +18 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +8 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +15 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +7 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +5 Penalties: -0 Total: 62

WINNER: Titanite

"Enough, for now."

Vargas was surprised, and relatively pleased, with Titanite's performance. He hadn't expected it to be this skilled with magic, let alone a magic not of its element but, he supposed, it did seem... plant... planty. The outcome if Alpha got ahold of it was clear enough: the Orthoclase could likely rip Titanite limb from limb. And Alpha's own skills in magic, it seemed, had not gone untrained.

"I do not remember you being able to-... bounce." Bluntly, drily stated, but impressed nonetheless.

So Orthoclase was a prime shock-trooper; but what of running into issues like this-? A dozen Titanites could easily prepare a snaring mess against the front lines of a charging army.

Hmm.

"You know, you two would work well together," Vargas pointed out, studying them each briefly. "Can you carry him on your back, Orthoclase-? Imagine if he were ensnaring opponents for you to tear apart. I think that would be a devastating combination."

Still, what if they ran into something like that? They'd need to clear the field of traps and foliage in advance, poisons, whatever... Maybe a dragon to sweep forward, lay down fire, and Orthoclase charging in over what was left--a dozen Orthoclases-...

Vargas sat lost in his own imaginings, his own planning, for a long moment before shaking himself clear of his thoughts.

"What would you say to practicing together, in such a way? It may be worth a try. You can test it, later on, on me. A shame that it would not work so well in the air," he added, briefly mulling over a dragon ensnared in vines. Then again, the bastards could just burn the stuff off.

Ahh, well.

Oh--credit where it was due...

"You have both been training, and that is good. Well done."

Well Titanite hadn't been training, really, but it wasn't about to correct its father.

It remained utterly motionless--in part because it didn't really have a choice, for a moment. When the sap again began to flow more freely it gradually flexed itself loose; and the vines were free, already, for Orthoclase to tear away should it so choose.

Titanite turned, gesturing lightly, and the angry bushes--still storming toward Orthoclase--fell and wilted away, blackening. At Vargas' words, however, it turned to regard Alpha again quizzically. Carry me... on its back..? Why? Who was it Vargas thought they would have to fight..?

The Titanite did not voice its questions, however, simply turning to peer with some confusion between its father and its sibling.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Given a little bit of slack, Alpha peeled off the vines within a few moments. Kicking the last of them off and reaching around to start tugging pitifully at the thorny ropes stuck in its legs. It grimaced, gave a short grunt, and just shifted so it was sitting in that odd way it did: rear legs folded up, middle half-crouched, and fronts just ramrod straight. Staring up attentively, it blinked at - the bouncing. Ah, the bouncing.

Ping-ponging around in a tiny hole came to mind. "I have been experimenting," came to mouth. That's it. The ring, also came to mind, and a quick mental note to drag that out on the way back.

Anyways.

Its head swung towards its sibling, a brief glance of that wiry frame leading to the conclusion of "it seems like I could." For all its aversion to touch, it crouched down slightly, staring at Titanite like it was inviting him to try that theory out - as stupid as it would look.

And for practicing together - "whatever you wish, Overseer." Annoyingly passive.

Alpha preened quietly at the praise, quills pricking imperceptibly. A slight incline of its head - another pause to see if Titanite would attempt to climb onto it, then a slow twist to keep picking at the plant-based barbed wire stuck in its calves.

@Vargas

Experimenting.

"Good! Testing new things is how we advance." He'd never heard of anybody bouncing before, though. Ahh, well. If it worked, it worked, and it certainly-... mostly!--had.

Vargas gestured to Orthoclase-Alpha, and nodded to Titanite, indicating for him to go ahead.

Surely, the mounted combat duo of his two children could not fail?

Titanite was entirely unsure about this. A wiser or more experienced being might have been frightened of Orthoclase-Alpha, of its hulking size and brutish potential for violence. Titanite hadn't experienced firsthand violence yet, possibly because he looked too much like trees for anyone to even notice him--and anyway, Vargas, the only creature he'd interacted with for more than an hour of his life, had proven trustworthy so far.

He turned, moving with somewhat-stiff steps (what the hell had Alpha done to his sap-flow-?) to his sibling's side and then, tentatively, moved to grip onto carapace.

Long, taloned branch-fingers--surprisingly hard, when one actually felt them--paused atop the hard shell. Six green eyes trailed over the various points, quills and hard surfaces that made up Orthoclase-Alpha's shoulders and back.

"I do not know... what to hold..." he rasped, at length. And then attempted to haul himself up onto Orthoclase-Alpha, to sit astride it... rather awkwardly.

It was odd, however, how well the branchlike body seemed suited to Orthoclase's shell. Assuming its sibling didn't chuck it off, or otherwise rebel, they almost seemed made for this.

@Orthoclase-Alpha